Comments on: Q&A with LDS General Authorities: Same-Gender Attraction http://www.sixteensmallstones.org/lds-authorities-on-homosexuality The Weblog of J. Max Wilson Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:49:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Reach Upward http://www.sixteensmallstones.org/lds-authorities-on-homosexuality/comment-page-1#comment-122 Reach Upward Tue, 22 Aug 2006 11:02:03 +0000 Unfortunately, I believe it will require a major cultural shift (perhaps a generational change) before the general membership of the church accepts people with this challenge. We tend to accept folks that have struggled with drug and alcohol addictions, but sexual issues are such a deep part of our individual and collective psyche. Our culture has difficulty dealing with folks that have had sexual problems we consider ‘normal,’ let alone problems that we consider ‘abnormal.’ Last Sunday an older brother who is in declining health stood up in priesthood meeting and related a remarkable experience he had had during a recent brief stay in a nursing home. He related how he was befriended by a very Christ-like LDS black man who was also a patient at the care facility. The terms this man used to describe the experience were extremely politically incorrect, and cause me to recoil. I couldn’t believe that there were still people alive that harbored such deep racist sentiments, even though, this man was describing an epiphany where he was starting to shed his prejudices. But I guess his attitudes were once common among his generation. In the same way, it may take another generation before church members begin to deal with people with same-sex attraction in a Christ-like way. Unfortunately, I believe it will require a major cultural shift (perhaps a generational change) before the general membership of the church accepts people with this challenge. We tend to accept folks that have struggled with drug and alcohol addictions, but sexual issues are such a deep part of our individual and collective psyche. Our culture has difficulty dealing with folks that have had sexual problems we consider ‘normal,’ let alone problems that we consider ‘abnormal.’

Last Sunday an older brother who is in declining health stood up in priesthood meeting and related a remarkable experience he had had during a recent brief stay in a nursing home. He related how he was befriended by a very Christ-like LDS black man who was also a patient at the care facility. The terms this man used to describe the experience were extremely politically incorrect, and cause me to recoil. I couldn’t believe that there were still people alive that harbored such deep racist sentiments, even though, this man was describing an epiphany where he was starting to shed his prejudices. But I guess his attitudes were once common among his generation.

In the same way, it may take another generation before church members begin to deal with people with same-sex attraction in a Christ-like way.

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